Support growing for legal challenge

Support for a legal challenge to West Ham's escape from relegation appears to be growing after Wigan chairman Dave Whelan claimed Middlesbrough had joined the so-called 'Gang of Four'.

Sheffield United were relegated from the Premier League on goal difference, but the perceived injustice of the Hammers' record £5.5million fine instead of a points deduction for irregularities over the signings of Argentinians Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano is starting to rankle.

"Charlton, Sheff United, Wigan, Fulham and Middlesbrough are all determined that we should get justice and West Ham should have been deducted points," said Whelan, whose club survived at the expense of the Blades after winning 2-1 at Bramall Lane on Sunday.

"It has to be done quickly because the longer this goes on the less likelihood of the league reviewing it at all.

"We are going to fight and support them and we will fight with them to the end."

United's plc chairman Kevin McCabe also told Radio Four's Today programme he believed the groundswell of opinion was behind them.

"I think most of the Premier League clubs and other football clubs support us over this injustice that has come about this season," he said.

"Four years ago the Blades had just lost in the [Championship] play-off final and I felt gutted. This time I feel cheated. "I think there is a consensus most clubs support an injustice so I hope we will get the vast majority of clubs in the Premier League supporting our case."

Wigan chief executive Brenda Spencer has called for the Premier League to end the argument over Tevez once and for all.

"We just want justice and we want the Premier League to prove Tevez was eligible to play," she told Sky Sports News.